Download Guidelines for constructing a curriculum framework for Basic Education

UNESCO-IBE Training Tools for Curriculum Development
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Guidelines for Constructing a Curriculum Framework for Basic Education
Source: Adapted from Stabback, P (2007). Guidelines for Constructing a Curriculum
Framework for Basic Education. Presented at the Regional Workshop “What basic
education for Africa?” Kigali, Rwanda – 25-28 September 2007 UNESCO-IBE.
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/COPs/News_documents/2007/0709Kigal
i/Curriculum_Framework_Guidelines.pdf
One of the systemic strategies to ensure consistency and quality in curriculum design
processes is the development of a curriculum framework as one element of the documented
‘intended curriculum’.
The ‘intended curriculum’ is the formal and documented record of what should be taught
and learned. Intended curriculum is most commonly developed and sponsored by the state.
In some ways, these documents represent an agreement or minimum guarantee between
the government and citizens – a statement of what the education system will provide for
young people.
This formal curriculum usually comprises at least three components:
Component 1: Curriculum framework
One of the most important tools in ensuring consistency and quality in a ‘curriculum
system’ is a ‘curriculum framework’. This is usually a document (or set of documents) that
sets standards for curriculum and provides the context (available resources, capabilities of
teachers and system support) in which subject specialists develop syllabuses.
A curriculum framework describes the educational environment in which syllabuses (or
subject specific outlines of objectives, outcomes, content and appropriate assessment and
teaching methodologies) can be developed.
A curriculum framework is most commonly developed at a national level, but a form of
curriculum framework could be developed at the international level by a group of countries
with similar goals and educational environments. One function of a curriculum framework is
to define a set of ‘curriculum standards’ that enable a range of curricula to co-exist, on the
proviso that each curriculum complies with specific criteria. A curriculum framework is
therefore a very useful mechanism for allowing flexibility and diversity among countries
within an affiliation of some kind or ethnic groups within a single state. Each individual
system can maintain the ‘identity’ of its own curriculum while ensuring consistency and
quality through compliance with a set of agreed standards expressed in the framework.
A curriculum framework commonly contains the elements described in Table 3. However,
one of the advantages of a framework approach is flexibility, and elements can be added to
or deleted from the framework structure to suit the needs of the education system or
systems developing it.
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Table 3 – Common Elements of a Curriculum Framework
Common Elements of a Curriculum Framework
Element
Function or Purpose
Describes the social and economic environment in which
educational policy is made and in which teaching and
1. Introduction:
learning occur
Current Context
2. Educational Policy
Statements
3. Statement of Broad
Learning Objectives and
Outcomes / standards for
each level / cycle
4. Structure of the Education
System
5. Structure of curriculum
content, learning areas and
subjects
6. Standards of resources
required for implementation
Describes the government’s goals for education, such as
universal literacy and numeracy, the development of skills
needed for economic prosperity and the creation of a
stable and tolerant society
Describes what students should know and be able to do
when they complete their school education. Outcomes
should be expressed in a range of domains, including
knowledge, understanding, skills and competencies,
values and attitudes
Describes the school system within which the curriculum
framework is to be applied. It should specify:
 Number of years of schooling, including compulsory
schooling
 Stages (or cycles) of schooling and their durations
 Number of weeks in the school years, hours /
teaching periods in the school week
Describes the organisation of content within the
framework and the extent to which schools and students
can make choices. It might describe:
 The pattern of Subjects or Learning Areas to be
studied in each stage or cycle (such as core,
elective and optional subjects)
 A brief description of each Subject or Learning Area
outlining the rationale for its inclusion in the
curriculum and the contribution it makes to the
achievement of the Learning Outcomes defined in
Section 3
 The number of hours to be assigned to each subject
or Learning Area in each stage or cycle
Describes standards as they apply to:
 Teachers – qualifications, teaching load (number of
classes per week)
 Students – number per class in each subject
 Materials – textbooks, computers, other equipment;
facilities – classrooms, furniture, fittings.
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7. Teaching methodology
8. Assessing and reporting
student achievement
Describes the range of teaching approaches that might be
employed in the implementation of the framework
Describes:
 The importance of assessing the extent to which
students achieve the outcomes of each subject, and
recommends or prescribes types of assessment
strategies
 How achievement will be certified
Other agreed elements can be added to the list above. These could include agreed
policies on contentious issues (such as agreed positions on the content of history syllabuses
or how history should be taught), how content and student learning can be integrated, the
incorporation of competencies or any other matter which requires a ‘standard’ to be defined.
Once a curriculum framework is agreed, other documents can be developed, including
most importantly, subject or learning area syllabuses and textbooks. It is the curriculum
framework which gives guidance to syllabus and textbook writers and which determines the
detail of a range of other policy and funding priorities.
Component 2: Syllabuses
Having articulated the curriculum framework, it is necessary to shift focus to individual
learning areas or subjects through the development of syllabuses. These are documents,
normally for the use of teachers, which record the aims, objectives, content, outcomes and
other information specific to a subject or learning area.
Syllabuses should be regulated by and be consistent with the curriculum framework.
They should provide a range of information and can contain the following elements:
• the rationale for the subject (i.e. why it is included in the curriculum and its relationship
to the student outcomes in the curriculum framework)
• the aims and objectives of the subject
• the student learning outcomes (knowledge, skills, values) for the subject (possibly at
each stage or year)
• content (expressed as topics, themes or units) to be covered in each stage or year and
requirements for teaching the content (core, elective and optional topics)
• teaching strategies appropriate to the subject
• strategies for evaluating student achievement in the subject
Component 3: Textbooks and other teaching/learning resources
To support teachers in implementing the syllabuses, education systems have
traditionally relied to a very large extent, if not exclusively, on single textbooks. In turn,
teachers base their lessons and classroom practice on those textbooks.
Three very significant variations to this approach can be identified in developed
countries:
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1. Market-driven textbook development
Where resources permit, education authorities encourage publishers to produce
textbooks which they believe captures the philosophy and content of the syllabus. Schools
are empowered and resourced to choose the textbook which they believe will best support
their teachers and students in achieving the learning outcomes prescribed in the relevant
syllabuses.
2. Teaching programs and plans
One part of teachers’ responsibilities is to interpret the syllabus and develop a semester
or year plan of activities for their individual classes. For this to occur, teachers require
extensive training in syllabus requirements and should be provided with a range of relevant
samples of programs, plans and activities. In many countries, the teacher’s program can be
viewed as an additional component of the ‘intended curriculum’ and serves as a ‘connector’
between the ‘intended curriculum’ and the ‘implemented curriculum’.
3. Supplementary resources
Teachers are trained in developing teaching and learning resources which supplement
the textbook and which support particular learning activities in their classroom. These
resources can be sourced from the media, the internet or other print, video or digital material.
The result is the development of a bank of resources which make learning interesting and
cater for the individual differences of students in particular locations and circumstances.
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